As Masks Fall, is ‘Murder, Inc.’ the real face of the US?’
US Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall sent Attorney General Eric Holder a letter expressing their concern over the official use and abuse by the Obama Administration of the Patriot Act, not only against “foreign terrorists”, but against US citizens.
Irrespective of what Mr Holder may or may not respond to these two Senators, and irrespective of the growing concern amongst lucid people inside and outside of the US, the facts are that, as we learn from an article in USA Today published on 5th March – “Holder: Constitution doesn’t cover terrorists” – the Obama Administration is ready to use lethal force against anybody, anywhere and at any time, including US citizens whom they consider might be linked to “terrorism”.
At least, that’s what the Attorney General Holder explained in a speech delivered on 5th March at the Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, when he said that the Government has the right to kill citizens who they believe are “senior leaders in al-Qaeda or affiliate groups” or who may pose an "imminent threat" of attack against the United States and its interests, and whose capture may not be immediately "feasible."
Holder went on to say that, "given the nature of how terrorists act and where they tend to hide, it may not always be feasible to capture a U.S. citizen terrorist who presents an imminent threat of violent attack… In that case, our government has the clear authority to defend the United State using lethal force."
The Attorney General's remarks come as civil rights advocates have condemned such killings, including the fatal military drone strike in September against Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born leader of al-Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen.
Now, this is official US policy regarding its own citizens, so we can all imagine what official US policy regarding non-US citizens is like!
"But the use of force in a foreign territory would be consistent with these international legal principles if conducted, for example, with the consent of the nation involved or after a determination that the nation is unable or unwilling to deal effectively with a threat to the United States," said the U.S. attorney general.
Clearly, this is flagrant and openly-admitted state-sponsored terrorism on a global scale and might help to explain, amongst many other murders and assassinations, the spate of killings of Iranian nuclear physicists in recent weeks. It might also shed new light into such never fully explained deaths as the “suicide” of British expert on biological warfare David Kelly at the height of the UK Iraq crisis in July 2003, or former UK cabinet member Robin Cook’s unexpected “massive heart attack” after he had publicly denounced Tony Blair’s poodle-like following of George W Bush in 2003 dragging the UK into war against Iraq for the benefit of Israel.
“Few things are as dangerous to American liberty as the proposition that the government should be able to kill citizens anywhere in the world on the basis of legal standards and evidence that are never submitted to a court, either before or after the fact," explained Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's (American Civil Liberties Union) National Security Project, in an article in the New York Daily News.
University of Notre Dame Law professor Mary Ellen O'Connell, in turn, voiced her concern over the obvious fact that "relevant international law does not permit targeted killing far from battle zones."
Nevertheless, this should all come as no surprise to anybody considering that the Israel’s Mossad and Britain’s MI6, mentors of today’s CIA, have been doing this for years.
If anything, it’s good that masks are finally starting to drop and “Murder Inc.” – also known as these United States of America – is finally showing its true face to the world.
One can only hope that a growing number of US Citizens will wake up to the terrible truth that their once great country has been hijacked and that they will then take their country back so that it once again serves “We, The People” and not the banker-corporate-military mafia under who’s grip it seems to have fallen. This is absolutely necessary not just for the sake of the American people, but for all the people living on this increasingly bleak planet.
Adrian Salbuchi
Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. www.asalbuchi.com.arDisclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the story are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
